AD Larry Lyons retires !

gobirds85

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I was not a big fan of his as I thought he squandered a big opportunity to make hay after the Championship run. The Ath. Dept should have been out front leading the charge lining up alum and boosters for a big fundraising drive. No such luck. He might have been fine crossing the Ts and dotting the Is but in the big games he fell short.
 

crazzymark

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Larry is/was a great guy but was never right for the position. He had no vision, no energy and really no desire for this dept to improve, hence his fundraising (such as it was) was never going to amount to much. Hopefully, Illinois State goes outside to find their next hire and brings in someone who can change the culture of mediocrity in this dept and stop those in Hovey Hall treating it as an afterthought.
withdrew all money donated to ISU, sports and otherwise. Will use money for the police funds.
 

redbirdfan04

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The Police are getting back together??

FWIW, will you be cancelling your RBF.net membership, too?
I asked Quinn for refund on my RBF.net membership and he quickly reminded me that I signed the no refunds waiver when I signed up! hahaha
 

TIMMY

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The Police are getting back together??

FWIW, will you be cancelling your RBF.net membership, too?
The Police will only be making a comeback if Mark sponsors them. If he cancels his RBF.net membership Quinn might have to fold up this tent.
 

StLRedbird

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For the love of God, I cannot wait for some games to talk about.

Edit: How crazy would it be for us to adopt one of our sister schools as our own this fall? Discuss the matchups. Talk about the games?
 
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gobirds85

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withdrew all money donated to ISU, sports and otherwise. Will use money for the police funds.
Dammit, once my wife hears about this I'll have to go see them. Those tickets are going to be crazy expensive.

Mark, we get it. ISU will soldier on without your hundreds of $$$ in donations. It will be tough, but I have confidence in their ability to make ends meet. Maybe you could spread some of your vast fortune around at liberty u. I hear they are needing a few million after their beloved leader was discovered to be a freaky pervert and they have to pay him $10,000,000 as a going away prize. I'm sure you can help close the gap there.
 

MadBird

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Ok, Lyons needs to be replaced. Does anyone know of any specific potential candidates?
I babbled some on a different thread about the "kind of candidate" we'd wish for - football background? Fund raising background? Assistant AD at a P5 school or from one of our peers or from the MAC? Etc. Somebody said "yes" to all!

DePaul hired an assistant AD from Kentucky as their new AD. And for those who have mentioned it here, he increases their diversity. Not sure we can attract a P5 assistant AD, but maybe so. Surely could attract someone from a Group of 5 or one of our "peer" FCS schools, possibly even a current AD from a smaller FCS school (I'm just tossing out schools, but you know, a Central Arkansas or Murray St. AD might see this as a step up).

I'd be curious if we have any alums/former staff out there who might be interested in returning? I have no idea if such a person is out there.
 

Adunk33

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First I feel like an external hire is 100% the way to go for this. However, this was talked about previously, but I kinda like the idea of Muller going into the AD role. He loves ISU, is personable, and respected throughout the league. I'm sure he loves basketball too much to step away during the "prime of his career," but if we look internal, he could be a strong candidate.
 

Bird Friend

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First I feel like an external hire is 100% the way to go for this. However, this was talked about previously, but I kinda like the idea of Muller going into the AD role. He loves ISU, is personable, and respected throughout the league. I'm sure he loves basketball too much to step away during the "prime of his career," but if we look internal, he could be a strong candidate.
You think he'd be willing to leave that much money on the table??
 

MadBird

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First I feel like an external hire is 100% the way to go for this. However, this was talked about previously, but I kinda like the idea of Muller going into the AD role. He loves ISU, is personable, and respected throughout the league. I'm sure he loves basketball too much to step away during the "prime of his career," but if we look internal, he could be a strong candidate.
I don't know, I'm not sure Coach Dan is the man for the AD role. He loves ISU, but if you'd say assembling a solid administrative team is one of the core skills of the AD, can we say that about Coach Dan? The revolving door assistants?? The revolving door players?? The motivational skills that have him griping about his own team not playing hard year after year? I'm skeptical. I'm for external, that I agree with. :)
 

RedbirdSoxFan

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I don't know, I'm not sure Coach Dan is the man for the AD role. He loves ISU, but if you'd say assembling a solid administrative team is one of the core skills of the AD, can we say that about Coach Dan? The revolving door assistants?? The revolving door players?? The motivational skills that have him griping about his own team not playing hard year after year? I'm skeptical. I'm for external, that I agree with. :)
The assistant coaches that he has hired that have moved up the ladder!
 

fourthandshort

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I don't know, I'm not sure Coach Dan is the man for the AD role. He loves ISU, but if you'd say assembling a solid administrative team is one of the core skills of the AD, can we say that about Coach Dan? The revolving door assistants?? The revolving door players?? The motivational skills that have him griping about his own team not playing hard year after year? I'm skeptical. I'm for external, that I agree with. :)
Have to agree. seems like a good man, but something isn't working. His roster is a revolving door, and his APR has been terrible. He's had 2 NIT appearances and exited 2nd round in both. Maybe he would make a better AD than a BBall coach, but the credentials are not there.

Question .. would he be on our AD radar, if he was not an ISU grad or current ISU bball coach, with his indentical record at some other school.

Answer ... no, he wouldn't.

We need to think bigger ... AD Lyons was a convenient, safe choice - too safe. Time for a a bolder choice .. someone with vision and integrity, who understands the donor base. We fell too short in that area under Lyons. Among other skilles, the person needs to be willing/able to make the case and ask for money .. rinse, lather, repeat, rinse, lather, repeat, etc. Then always honor your commitments to all donors. Might need to take a chance on someone younger with ideas or someone older with experience who is not looking for long term thing, and could maybe groom someone else.

Problem is the pandemic and the budget ... we don't do bold, we prefer careful ... like AD Lyons.
 
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